


With Eyes Like Crystal

by WoofTheWaffle (VesperRiver)



Series: Crystallization [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Actual contractions, BUT MAN IS SHE GONNA BE LOVED, Babies, Baby Showers, Beyonce is mentioned, Cravings, Crying, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, False Contractions, Fluff, Gifts, Hair Braiding, Hospitals, Implied Sexual Content, Kid Fic, Lack of Sleep, M/M, Modernish AU, Moodswings, Mostly self indulgence, Nausea, Nonbinary!Taako, Pregnancy, Purring Elves, Sibling Bonding, Trans Male Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy, a little bit of cramping, avi does photography now i guess, baby gifts, brief depictions of birth, elena doesnt belong to me!, fantasy pregnancy tests, i don’t know how this stuff works tbh, jaby returns, jress (jean dress), just so i can justify taako using twitter and instagram, more tags will be added as i add the chapters, quite a bit in chapter 2, throwing up, updates whenever the fuck now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-05-24 18:40:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 13,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14959998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VesperRiver/pseuds/WoofTheWaffle
Summary: “Mhm,” Kravitz takes it out of the bag and out of the box, handing it to Taako. It’s a stone shaped item. A pregnancy test. “It'll glow if it’s positive, just put it on your stomach.”“Okay,” The worn-out looking elf sighs and places it on his belly.It takes a couple of seconds, which stretch out and feel incredibly long to Taako, but the stone glows, and, sure enough, he's definitely pregnant.“Holy fucking shit Krav,” He squeaks, tears threatening to fall from his eyes.Kravitz grins widely and pulls Taako into a hug, letting a few tears fall into Taako’s mess of hair. The reaper feels Taako shaking as he cries silently of joy.~~~taako's family grows a little bit





	1. Month 2: Finding Out

**Author's Note:**

> oh shit its me again lol this is a self indulgence thing, i fucking l i v e for taakitz and blupjeans kids. also this is actually like the first time ive ever written and planned ahead on a fic??? but hey im pretty proud how this is turning out so far and its super fucking fun to write!! also thank you to the amazing people in the taz fic writers discord who encouraged me to write this! i also did a ton bit of research so this could be as accurate as possible. so it starts with month 2! :)
> 
> EDIT 6/18: thanks to superficalexis for editing and making it more readable! i really fucking appreciate it

Taako wakes up feeling nauseous. He quickly extracts himself from Kravitz's grasp runs towards the bathroom, throwing up directly into the toilet.

Kravitz is at his side immediately, moving his hair out of his face and up into a ponytail on the back of his head. He rubs his back as he spills his guts from last night's dinner.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Kravitz asks softly, “You've been really moody, and you’ve been throwing up a lot lately..”

“I’m fine, Krav.” Taako snaps after throwing up again.

“Are you sure?” he asks, concerned.

“Probably a stomach bug, not a big deal,” Taako shrugs after throwing up again.

Kravitz looks down at the elf’s stomach and bites his lip, “hey… remember you and I went on that really romantic date a couple months ago? And we had one of those spurs of the moment type deals.. and.. well, maybe..?” Kravitz gestures to Taako's now-flat stomach.

“What are you implying? Because that date was fucking amazing my dude,” Taako says, following his gaze to his abdomen, “oh… shit. You really think?” he asks nervously.

“It's certainly a possibility.” 

“Shit. fuck. I'm not ready for that kind of thing—” Taako says, beginning to freak out a little.

“Hey, calm down,” Kravitz takes Taako's hands, “we don't entirely know yet,” The reaper says reassuringly, moving to press a sweet kiss to Taako’s forehead. “I’ll go run by the store and grab a test real quick, then I’ll be back, I won't be gone long okay?”

“Okay, okay yeah, I’ll be fine,” Taako says, swallowing the lump forming in his throat.

“Good,” Kravitz kisses him on the top of the head as he stands and summons his scythe, opening a portal to the store with one fell swoop, “I'm gonna be really quick okay?” Kravitz says, and he closes the portal when Taako gives a thumbs up.

“Holy shit,” Taako mutters to himself. He is so fucking not ready to be a dad.. Or to be pregnant for that matter— he never thought that this could ever be a possibility in his life but here he fucking is, with the hottest husband ever and the most perfect life he could ever ask for. And now he's bringing a kid into this.

Taako shakily gets up and rinses out his mouth to get rid of the acidic taste of bile left in his throat. He then moves from the bathroom back to the bedroom and flops onto the bed before sitting up and putting a hand on his stomach. Taako knows that there isn't much there now, but there definitely will be later.

Taako hears another portal rip open and Kravitz steps out of it, immediately moving to sit on the bed next to Taako. “Hey,” he says softly, setting the bag he’s holding down on the bed.

“Hi,” Taako smiles uneasily, “Guess I gotta take this now, huh?” 

“Mhm,” Kravitz takes it out of the bag and out of the box, handing it to Taako. It’s a stone shaped item. A pregnancy test. “It'll glow if it’s positive, just put it on your stomach.”

“Okay,” The worn-out looking elf sighs and places it on his belly.

It takes a couple of seconds, which stretch out and feel incredibly long to Taako, but the stone glows, and, sure enough, he's definitely pregnant. 

“Holy fucking shit Krav,” He squeaks, tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

Kravitz grins widely and pulls Taako into a hug, letting a few tears fall into Taako’s mess of hair. The reaper feels Taako shaking as he cries silently of joy.

Kravitz hears a knock on the door and Angus's voice filters through it, “Si- I mean dads? Are you okay?” The young detective asks in concern.

“We’re just fine Angus, you can come in,” Kravitz replies.

Angus opens the door and walks over to the bed, climbing onto it and frowning when he sees Taako crying against Kravitz.

“What’s wrong Taako?” The boy asks, concerned.

“Have you ever wanted a sibling?” Taako asks, sniffling and pulling Angus close.

“I’m not sure.. But I wouldn’t mind having one, why?” Angus asks.

“Well, pumpkin, I’m pregnant,” Taako laughs breathlessly. 

“What? How? That’s fuckin amazing!” Angus grins and practically throws himself into Taako’s arms with a laugh, “Congratulations!”

“Thanks, Ango,” Taako says happily and hugs his boy back.

“Have you told anyone yet?” Angus asks, letting go of Taako.

“Shit, we’ve gotta tell them Krav..” Taako bites his lip.

“How about we start off with Lup and Barry, hm?” Kravitz chuckles and moves the hair out of his eyes, “Then we can tell the rest of the family. Best not to get ahead of ourselves.”

“Yeah, that’s easier.” Taako nods and grabs his stone of far speech from the nightstand to text his sister. “Okay, I’m telling her to come over for lunch, and I don’t know about you, but today feels like a pajama day,” he says, quickly adding that to the text.

“Sounds like a good idea,” Kravitz chuckles softly, rubbing Taako's back.

Taako flops back onto the bed with a huff, but immediately sits up again. “Shit. I gotta pee.”

Angus scoots out of the way as Taako climbs over him and quickly walks to the bathroom.

“So how do you feel now that you’re gonna be a big brother?” Kravitz asks Angus, who simply shrugs in response.

“I don’t know. I’m kinda excited, actually.” Angus grins, “What about you? How do you feel?” He asks in return.

Kravitz shrugs, “It feels like it hasn’t hit me quite yet,” he admits with a laugh, “It’s quite unexpected, but I’m certainly happy.”

Taako returns and scoots himself between the two, burying his face into Kravitz’s neck with a sigh. “I know I just woke up a little bit ago, but now I wanna go back to sleep.”

“You can do that while Angus and I wait for your sister to arrive,” Kravitz replies, picking up the discarded pregnancy test and putting it back into the bag from the store. “Do you want me to throw this away?” He asks.

“Maybe I’ll keep it? Just in case?” He shrugs and flips over onto his back.

“Okay,” Kravitz says, leaning in for a kiss, which Taako gratefully returns. Once Kravitz pulls away, he takes the test out of the bag and puts it on Taako’s nightstand, “love you,” he says, with the same familiar ease as he’s always said it.

“Love you too,” Taako replies, then shoos Angus off the bed— but not before giving him a hug.

“Feel better Taako, love you,” Angus says before letting go of him.

“Thanks, kiddo, love you too,” he replies, putting the test into his dresser drawer as the two of them leave the room. The elf then buries himself back under the covers and falls back to sleep.  
~~~~~  
“Kokoooo!” he heard Lup call him from his slumber a couple hours later.

“Mmm,” he responds and rolls over to face her, “hey Lulu,” he says, sitting up a little, still feeling a bit nauseous.

“You slept into like fuckin noon, ya goof.” His twin teases with a smile.

“Yeah? I was tired, fuck off,” He shoves her shoulder playfully.

“Krav said you had something to tell me, what’s up?” She asks, shoving him back.

Taako takes a deep breath, “I don’t know if you’ll believe me or not, but... I’m pregnant..” He trails off at the end, looking up at her with an uneasy expression on his face.

“Taako, what the fuck, that’s amazing!” Lup yells and tackles him in a big bear hug, “I’m gonna be an aunt!” His mirror image laughs.

“You already are with Angus, you dingus,” He says, but he still laughs and returns her hug.

“But I’ll be an aunt all over again,” Lup pulls back and takes his face in her hands. “Congrats Koko, I’m really happy for you!” She says, beginning to tear up.

He feels the tears come to his eyes in return, giving his sister a watery smile. He pulls her into another hug and starts to cry into her shoulder. Lup rubs his back and lets him cry, after all, it’s been a pretty overwhelming day for him and he’s barely done anything.

“You know you need to tell everyone else,” Lup whispers conspiratorially into his ear.

“Shit, yeah, I know,” he says tearfully, pulling back from the hug with a sniffle. “I’ll do it when we have our next family dinner. It’s next week, right?” The expecting elf asks.

“Mhm,” His elven twin hums, rubbing his back still. “We should go downstairs and tell Barry, unless your boys already told him.” Lup says with a little laugh and gets up off the bed, holding out her hand for Taako to take.

He takes her hand and drags himself out of bed, and he doesn’t let go of her hand as the near identical pair walk out of the bedroom and down the stairs to tell Barry of the good news.


	2. Month 3: Leg Cramps and Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako has a leg cramp and feels some emotions, kravitz helps him feel better

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again, thank you to superficialalexis for editing!

Taako tosses and turns in the bed as he tries to sleep. Which, unfortunately, he can’t because of a cramp in his leg.

He opens his eyes and sits up, letting out a groan, and he rubs the spot where it's bothering him the most, hoping to get rid of the ache.

Remembering what he read online, he gets out of bed and begins to stretch.

Kravitz rolls over to find the spot where his husband was is now empty and opens his eyes fully. Seeing the top of Taako’s head over the edge of the bed,he moves to Taako’s side of the bed and peers down at him.

“What’re you doing?” he asks, still half asleep.

“Stretching,” Taako says, leaning over one leg.

“I can see that, but why in the middle of the night?” The Reaper asks in confusion.

“I have a fucking cramp in my leg, Krav,” Tako looks at him, annoyed, “I read up about being pregnant online, so leg cramps are a fucking thing apparently.”

“Do you need me to do anything? Get you some water and some fantasy Ibuprofen?” Kravitz offers.

“Yeah, that’d be great,” Taako says, then mutters to himself, “gotta exercise a bit more.”

“I’ll go get you some water, the fantasy Ibuprofen is in the cabinet in the bathroom,” Kravitz says, leaning down off the bed more and kissing Taako on the forehead.

“Yeah I know,” Taako mutters, suddenly feeling a bit nauseous, “are you just gonna fall off the bed or try to get yourself back up?” The elf laughs when he notices that Kravitz hasn't moved from his position and is still hanging off the bed.

Kravitz laughs, “do you mind moving? I’m choosing to fall off the bed.” 

Taako moves out of the way and laughs, “oh my gods Krav, why.”

He continues to stifle his laughter as the Grim Reaper himself slowly slides off the bed and lands on the floor with a soft thump, looking up at him with a grin.

“Hello dove,” Kravitz says, chuckling.

“Hey there handsome, whatcha doing down there on the ground?” Taako giggles, nausea subsiding a little.

“Making you happy,” Kravitz smiles and sits up, “looks like I was successful.”

“You are a fucking sap,” Taako says and kisses his husband on the lips, “now go get me my water.”

“Of course, my dear,” Kravitz replies, getting up off the ground.

Taako gets up off the floor himself and heads into their bathroom. But before he could grab what he needed from the medicine cabinet, the nausea returns, making him take a detour to the toilet and throw up into it. 

After he empties the contents of his stomach into the toilet, he stands up shakily and flushes it. then lets out an annoyed groan. He has to pee now too. ‘This night just keeps on getting better and better,’ he thinks sarcastically.

Once all of that is done and over with, he washes his hands and washes the acidic taste of bile from out of his mouth. Taako takes the bottle of fantasy ibuprofen from the cabinet and exits the bathroom, where Kravitz is standing just outside.

“Are you alright, dear?” he asks with concern.

“Fucking peachy,” the elf says in annoyance, opening the bottle and taking two pills out before handing it to Kravitz who trades him the glass of water. “thanks,” Taako mutters.

“It's no problem,” the reaper says, closing the bottle and putting it back in the cabinet before guiding his husband back to bed.

Once the two are back in bed, Kravitz pulls Taako closer and puts a hand on his husband’s stomach, which isn’t quite flat anymore. “I still can't believe that this is real,” the reaper says with a chuckle, and looks up at Taako with a face full of love.

Taako can’t help but to smile, after all, his husband's joy is contagious. “It sure feels real,” the elf says, putting his hand on top of Kravitz's, “ nausea, mood swings and all of that other shit waiting for me later on in my pregnancy are sure as hell going to be worth it.”

“Yes, I’m sure it all will be.”

“I want them to have the best childhood, the opposite of what Lup and I went through,” the pregnant elf pauses, and takes a deep breath, “it’s, like, guaranteed that this kid will have the most perfect childhood and the best food and the best home ever, but what if I can’t provide that?” he feels the tears come to his eyes and blinks them away without a second thought.

“Taako, it'll be fine. They will have everything that they could possibly ever want,” Kravitz says, gently wiping away the tears, “you will be the best dad ever because you'll love them, and I will love them. Everyone will love them.”

Taako lets out a sob and nods.

Kravitz continues, “this home is theirs, they will eat the most amazing food cooked by you and if they so desire, learn how to do it themselves. When Angus is home, he will help take care of them, so it’s okay Taako.” Kravitz sits up and pulls the crying elf into his lap, “everything will be fine.”

“Yeah, it will be okay,” Taako hiccups, wiping away his tears fitfully, “fucking mood swings,” he complains.

“I think you're just tired, my dear,” Kravitz smiles softly, and kisses away his husband’s tears, placing him back down onto the bed, “let's get some sleep, okay?”

Taako nods, “I'll try,” he says and he gets under the covers.

“That’s all I would like you to do,” The Reaper says, getting under the covers as well and pulling Taako close, “good night, dove, sleep well.”

Taako lies awake for a couple moments, reveling in what his sappy husband told him. Everything will be fine, it's just the mood swings and lack of sleep that's making the elf doubt himself. All he needs is some sleep.

He feels the cold but familiar hands move underneath his nightshirt and rest on his small stomach. Taako can almost see those hands resting on his much larger stomach months from now. The Thought makes him smile softly. Hopefully, all of the nausea, the constant need to pee and restlessness will go away soon so he can fully enjoy what is happening in his and Kravitz's life at the moment. 

The elf lets out a yawn, closes his eyes, and falls asleep in his husband's arms.


	3. Month 4: Clothes Shopping and Sibling Bonding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lup and Taako go clothes shopping, find a jress and tease each other, yknow, like siblings do? also Taako is happier! hooray!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks again to superficialalexis for editing!

Taako looks at himself in the mirror and his stomach has most definitely grown. But on the brighter side, he’s also started to feel a whole lot better than he did a couple weeks ago. 

He quickly begins to realize that some of his clothes will definitely not fit anymore pretty soon, plus he's actually already tried on some of his pants and a couple of pairs don’t even fit already. He's going to need new clothes.

So he throws on a flowy, long skirt and a cute shirt that still fits and calls up Lup, hopefully, she isn't too busy doing reaper stuff— like, unfortunately, Kravitz is with his paperwork.

“Sup Koko?” she answers without hesitation.

“I need to go shopping, most of my clothes aren’t going to fit soon,” he tells her, after running a brush through his hair, which, by the way, looks fucking amazing right now.

“Hell yeah! I'll be over in a sec,” she says and hangs up. Within seconds of her ending the call, there's a rip in reality and Lup steps out of the portal. “aw Koko, you look amazing!” She gasps with a grin and takes his stomach in her hands for a moment before giving him a hug.

“I feel amazing,” he laughs, “feeling so much better than I did a couple weeks ago, definitely.” 

“That's good to hear,” she laughs back, pulling back from the hug, “isn't that my shirt?” she asks with a smile, raising her eyebrow.

“Maybe? I dunno, fits me well enough right now,” he shrugs, which makes Lup laugh.

“Your hair!” she gasps again, “did you do anything to it? It looks fucking beautiful.”

“Nope! Au Naturale, sis!” Taako flips his hair over his shoulder, “the second trimester is the best part of the pregnancy, from what I heard,” The elf grins.

Lup snorts, “you ready to go?” She asks, pulling out her scythe and opening a portal when Taako nods.

They step through the portal and arrive outside an elven clothing store in the suburbs of Neverwinter.

“Oh, this place is nice,” Taako smiles and looks in the window of the shop.

“Mhm, this place has the cutest clothes,” Lup says, walking in the shop, “I found this place a while back actually.”

“And you didn't tell me until now? Lulu, I'm insulted!” Taako gasps, with a fake look of hurt on his face.

“I was going to, then I forgot cuz you told me you were pregnant.” Lup shrugs, “so I took this opportunity to show you this place.” she takes his hand and pulls him towards the maternity section, “this place is the best for people who don’t want gendered clothing.” she grins at him.

“Well, it's a good thing I’m a pregnant nonbinary guy then huh?” He teases, picking out a sundress in his approximate size, “this one is cute.”

Lup laughs, “yep! Oh shit, it is,” she looks at it, “You need to try that one on for sure.”

“I sure fucking will,” he drapes it over his arm and picks out a few more shirts and pairs of pants.

“Oh shit, this dress has pockets,” Lup says, shoving it towards him.

“Rad,” Taako says with a smile, adding it to the growing pile of clothes in the shopping cart he had grabbed when he couldn't carry the clothes in his arms anymore.

Taako lets out a laugh when he finds a dress made out of denim. “Lup! Look at this jress I found!” He yells, catching his sister's attention.

“A jress?” She asks, but bursts out into giggles when she sees it, “Okay not gonna lie, I would totally wear this.”

“Of course you would, you’re married to a man with a jean fetish,” Taako teases.

“Shut the fuck up Taako, you married a skeleton and you’re having his fuckin’ skeleton child,” she teases back.

“They aren’t going to be a skeleton, Lup, they’re going to be a person,” Taako responds, patting his stomach.

“Sure, don't come crying to me when your baby turns into a skeleton,” Lup teases, waving him off.

“Well, don't come crying to me either if you and Barold decide to have a jaby!” He teases back.

“Jaby?” 

“Jean baby.” he grins like he’s come up with the best joke ever.

“Oh my gods, Taako, what the fuck!” she laughs.

“You love me though.” he puts his head on her shoulder.

“Debatable,” She pats his head, “you still wanna try those on though?”

“Of course I am, gotta see how I look in ‘em,” Taako replies, winking at his sister, “you gonna try on that jress?” he asks.

“Yeah, I was thinking about it,” she shrugs, looking at it again, “or maybe I'll just give it to Barry,” she says, snapping a picture of it with her stone and texting it to her husband.

“I bet he’ll look great in it,” Taako laughs and enters the dressing room to try on all the items he’d picked out with his sister.

He tries on a few pairs on pants that are comfortable— the waistlines were surprisingly stretchy. When he found an outfit he liked he would show it to Lup, who always approved. He decides that he will put off his usual flashy fashion, the usual Taako Brand™️™️™️™️™️, to something much more simple. 

He actually really liked some of his outfit choices and was pretty grateful for Lup finding this place. The clothes are really cute and fashionable for being maternity clothes.

When he finally finishes putting them all on and feels satisfied with how most of them look on him, he and Lup check out, with Lup purchasing that denim dress, and Taako getting his clothes.

“Hey, do you want to get some ice cream?” Taako asks, “just cause?”

“Sure, why not, you craving it?” Lup nudges him.

“Maybe,” he mutters, which earns him a laugh from Lup.

“It’s cool, bro. I’ll portal these home for you real quick then we can go get that ice cream and satisfy your cravings.”

“Nice,” he responds, watching Lup cut a hole in reality and take the bags through before quickly returning.

The two of them walk down the street towards the ice cream shop that's nearby, getting some ice cream and eating it together while playfully jabbing at one another. Taako was happy to be feeling much better and that he was able to spend some time with his sister.

“Thanks, Lup, that place was nice and so were the clothes,” Taako said, eating a scoop of his ice cream.

“No problem bro-bro!” Lup grinned in response, “I knew you would've liked the place.”

“Though I probably would've liked to know about it before today, it’s fine,” Taako shrugged, "I really liked the place."

“Well sorry for wanting it to be a surprise,” Lup spoke sarcastically.

"Nah, it's fine. I had fun, thank you," he smiled at his twin.

"You're welcome," she smiled back at him, "knew you needed it."

Taako laughed and took another bite out of his ice cream, "I did need it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the part about the skeleton baby and Jaby (jean baby) was my favorite part to write tbh


	4. Month 5: Flutter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako feels a new thing, its the baby. plus some planning for gender reveal stuff. bet yall cant guess her name (you probably can)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once again, thank you to superficialalexis for editing it, ur amazing
> 
> ive been wanting to update all day, and i finally gave in and did, the update schedule is fucked, it no longer exists goodbye update schedule i have no more patience for you lol

“Do you know what you guys are having yet?” Magnus asks as he brushes Taako’s hair to put in a braid. He’s sitting on the couch while said elf sits on the ground between his legs.

“Having a girl,” Taako grins proudly, putting a hand on his stomach.

“Oh yay!” Magnus says happily, “did you make a post about it on fantasy twitter or anything yet?”

“Nah, not yet,” Taako says, pulling out his stone and opening the app, “Krav and I are considering doing a gender reveal post like those hetero couples do and get creative or just like, announcing it.” Taako shrugs.

“I think you two should do whatever,” Magnus shrugs, putting the brush down and splitting his hair into sections, “But, I think doing a photo in black and white and having the pink pop out seems pretty cool.” 

“Oh yeah! That sounds rad,” Taako gives him a thumbs up, “I’ll tell Krav about it later, he's working on some death criminal paperwork in his home office.

Magnus starts humming a song as he starts braiding Taako’s hair, one of the favorite songs that the seven of them share.

“Do you want me to play music, my dude?” Taako laughs, pulling up his music app.

Magnus laughs and nods, “sure.” 

Taako goes to his favorites playlist and presses shuffle, and a song by fantasy Beyonce begins to play on the fantasy Bluetooth speaker in the corner of the room.

Magnus continues to work on braiding his hair as Taako browses fantasy Twitter and Instagram, both humming to a song that came after that they both like— when he feels a little flutter. He ignores it because it's probably just gas. But it happens again. Which is when he realizes that it’s the baby. He can feel her moving now.

“Magnus, Magnus holy fuck!” he gasps, quickly turning around and ruining Magnus's handiwork with his hair.

“What is it Taako, are you okay?” Magnus asks, panicking a little, thinking that something is wrong with his friend.

“Yeah, I'm fine!” he grins, “I felt her move,” he says, with a huge smile on his face.

“Was it like a kick or anything?” Magnus says, with an equally large grin.

“No, it just felt like a flutter? I don't really know how to explain it but like holy fuck, I actually felt her! The cleric we went to said that I’ll probably feel something kinda like when you're gassy? But it’s a movement.” he says, holding out his hand for Magnus to take to help him up.

“Taako that's so fucking amazing, can I feel?” Magnus asks.

“I don't think you can feel it right now? But go ahead!” he laughs.

Magnus puts his hand on Taako’s belly, hoping to feel something from within Taako, but of course, feels nothing.

“Aw man, nope, can't feel anything,” Magnus pouts, but then pulls Taako into a hug, “congrats buddy!” 

“Thanks, Mags,” Taako laughs, feeling the flutter again, “oh shit, I gotta tell Krav,” he says and pulls away from the hug.

“He's home right?” Magnus asks, “go tell him!”

Taako nods and then starts walking towards Kravitz's office, where he's doing some paperwork on some death criminals. Taako walks in without knocking and wraps his arms around Kravitz's shoulders from the side.

“Hello, dove, you need anything?” Kravitz smiles, putting down his pen and kissing one of Taako's hands.

“Nope, but I do need to tell you something absolutely fucking amazing,” Taako smiles widely, once again feeling the flutter in his stomach. 

“Oh? What is it?” Kravitz smiles back.

“I felt her move, babe,” Taako says, voice barely audible above a whisper.

“Holy shit, you did? What does it feel like?” Kravitz stands up out of his chair and decides that this paperwork can wait.

“It's like a little flutter, I guess? I can't explain it very well,” he says with a smile, “but I can feel her.”

“Taako, that's,” Kravitz pauses, pulling him closer and putting a hand on his stomach, “that's amazing,” he says, pulling him into a kiss.

When they part, Taako nods, “soon I’ll probably be able to actually feel her move.”

“Yeah,” Kravitz laughs breathlessly, “that sounds insane, but soon,” he says, and he kisses Taako again.

The two walk back to the living room where Magnus is texting on his stone, and he looks up when they reenter the room.

“Do you still want me to braid your hair?” Magnus asks.

“Hell yeah,” Taako says and eases himself to the floor with the support of the couch. Kravitz lays his head on Taako’s lap once he gets down on the ground too.

Magnus grabs the brush and begins to run it through Taako’s hair again, just to make sure that there aren't any knots that materialized when Taako went to go tell Kravitz about the little movements that he felt.

“Oh Krav, Magnus came up with an idea for us for a gender reveal,” Taako says and turns off the music so the three of them can hold a proper conversation.

“Interesting, what did you have in mind?” 

“Like, the photo being in black and white and the only color that pops out is the pink?” Magnus says, repeating his suggestion to the reaper.

“Oh, I like it,” Kravitz smiles.

“So we’re doing the hetero way of a gender reveal?” The elf asks, twisting one of his husband’s dreads between his fingers.

“If that is what you would like to call it, then yes,” Kravitz chuckles.

“If you want to know the typical things that straight people do with gender reveals, you can look it up?” Magnus suggests, “been to a few gender reveal parties back before Raven’s Roost was destroyed and the rebellion happened, they were all about the same,” the fighter says with a sigh.

“All lame and cishet?” Taako says.

“Yep, sadly,” Magnus replies with a shrug, “I didn’t really mind them, but honestly they weren’t really my thing.” 

“Aw,” the elf says, patting Magnus's knee sympathetically.

“Do we need to hire anyone or do any of our friends have experience in photography?” The reaper asks.

“I’m pretty Avi does photography? Like he has an Instagram dedicated to photos he took,” Taako says, taking out his stone.

“Oh yeah, I think he mentioned something about quitting the Bureau and starting a photography thing as his lifelong dream or whatever,” Magnus says, “I wonder how he’s doing with that.” 

The fighter finishes braiding the elf's hair as he's scrolling through fantasy Instagram, looking at what their former coworker had made.

“Okay, I finished your braid,” Magnus says, with a smile.

“Nice, also, Krav look at what Avi made,” the elf shows his husband the former cannon manager’s Instagram and what he’s done with his new career. 

The reaper gives an approving nod, “looks interesting.” 

“Yup, I’ll text him,” he says, pushing him off his lap, “now help me stand up.” 

Kravitz obliges, helping Taako up off the ground.

"Can I see?" Magnus asks, and the elf gives him his stone so he can look, "Oh, looks like he's doing really well with it."

The elf nods with a grin, "hell yeah, now scoot over." 

Magnus obliges and moves to one side of the couch so the couple can sit together on it. It is their couch after all. 

“So I guess it’s official, we’re doing a hetero couple style of a reveal? But fuck, she can be whatever she wants to be,” Taako says, patting his belly.

“No gender norms allowed in this household!” Magnus yells with a laugh, shaking his fist in mock anger.

Taako laughs, “hell yeah, fuck them gender norms.”

“Are you guys having a baby shower?” the fighter asks.

“Yep, gotta get that sweet ass baby loot, right Krav?” the elf looks up at his husband with a smile.

“I’m pretty sure a baby shower is obligatory for every pregnant couple, dove,” the reaper says, returning Taako’s smile and stealing a kiss from him.

“Nice, I'm in the process of making your gifts, I started them when you announced,” Magnus says, grinning.

“Oh hell yeah, can't wait to see them.”

“I bet they’ll look lovely, Magnus, thank you,” Kravitz smiles at the fighter.

“Hey no problem, I’d do anything for free for family,” Magnus says with a shrug.


	5. Month 6: Baby Names and Cravings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako has some cravings, comes up with a rad name, and talks to his baby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey did u know that babies can hear u talking from within the womb at 23 weeks? because thats a thing
> 
> again, huge thanks to superficialalexis for editing!

Taako purrs softly in his husband’s arms as they both relax on the couch. He and Kravitz are just cuddling because that's all Taako wanted to do today, so that's all he’s going to do. The elf smiles as the reaper places small kisses onto his forehead— but then he gets a craving for something to eat, specifically for cheese and pickles.

 

“Krav,” Taako whines, his voice a bit scratchy from purring, “I'm hungry and I just got a craving for cheese and pickles, can you get me some?” 

“Yes,” Kravitz pauses with a smile, “if you could get off of me, I would certainly be able to.” 

Taako lets out a whine, “but you’re comfy!” 

“I won't be able to get you what you want until you get off of me,” Kravitz responds with a relaxed laugh.

The elf grumbles but manages to sit up so his husband can get him what he desires.

“Thank you, dear,” the reaper says, standing, “I’ll now get you what you need. I’ll only be a moment.”

“Thanks, you're a lifesaver,” Taako grins up at him.

Kravitz responds with a chuckle and heads into the kitchen, opening the fridge to get a chunk of cheese and the jar of pickles, being sure to close the fridge after. Quickly contemplating whether he should get a bowl for the pickles and cheese, he then decides not to, ‘cause Taako probably wouldn’t give a shit.

He leaves the kitchen and finds his husband leaning against the armrest of the couch where Kravitz was previously sitting. He’s surfing fantasy Twitter from in looks like boredom, but Kravitz wasn’t even gone 5 minutes. 

His husband looks up from his stone and grins when Kravitz sits down at his feet.

“Gimme food,” Taako says, with added grabby hands.

He wordlessly gives the food over to him and smiles when Taako rests the cheese on his belly. Taako opens the pickle jar and tosses the lid in the general direction of the coffee table, miraculously making it onto it.

Taako manages the monumental task of sitting up, taking the cheese off of his stomach and putting it onto the couch cushion. He sets the pickle jar down where it precariously sits as he takes one from it.

“I like eating pickles, but they always make my hands smell like pickle juice after taking them out of the jar and stuff,” Taako says between bites of the pickle he is currently eating.

“I mean, they are bathed in pickle juice in the jar,” Kravitz shrugs.

“I know, I’m just saying,” he smiles, then says, “I wonder what eating a pickle and cheese taste like together?”

“Well you can find out,” Kravitz smiles back.

“Shit, I sure fucking can,” Taako says, then proceeds to take a bite of a pickle and cheese and shrugs. “it’s okay,” he says with another shrug.

“Interesting.” 

“What? Do you want to try?” Taako offers.

“No, I’m good.” Kravitz declines.

“Suit yourself,” his husband shrugs another time, then combines the cheese and pickles again.

“Maybe we should come up with names for her? Just so we don’t put it off..”

Taako nods, “Good idea, I call first name dibs though,” he says and holds out the pickle jar to Kravitz, “Put it on the table, please? Don’t want to spill it.”

Kravitz nods and sets the pickle jar down on the coffee table, “are you done with it?” He asks.

“Yeah,” the elf says and finishes off his cheese. 

The reaper closes the pickle jar and moves to put his head on Taako’s stomach, “what names do you have?” 

“I like the name Crystal,” he smiles, putting a hand on his belly and one on Kravitz's cheek.

“Aw, like how we met huh?” He asks.

“What?” Taako asks, confused, but then realizes what Kravitz means, “shit, wow I didn’t even think about that,” he laughs.

“Sappy,” Kravitz teases, planting a light kiss on his husband’s stomach when he feels some movement from underneath his cheek.

“Shut up, I thought it was cute,” Taako whines, rolling his head back, “get off my dick.” 

“No, no I love it!” Kravitz reassures, taking one of Taako’s hands in his, “it’s a perfect name.”

The elf chuckles, “now how about you? Any middle name ideas?” He asks.

“I was potentially thinking about Raven?” Kravitz shrugs.

“Like the Raven Queen?” Taako asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Erm… yes,” Kravitz says awkwardly.

“That’s fucking adorable, my man,” Taako grins widely, “now look who’s being sappy, huh?” he teases.

“Guess we both are being a bit sappy today,” he smiles.

“Looks like it, now I don’t know about you, but I need to readjust because this armrest is starting to hurt my back,” he says, wincing slightly.

Kravitz nods and stands up, holding out his hand so Taako can stand up as well. Kravitz gives him a quick kiss on the lips before sitting back down again, where he was before, and getting Taako his snack. 

The reaper takes his husband's hand as he sits down and pulls him close, placing more kisses to his temple.

“Oof,” Taako mutters, and rubs his stomach, “getting a little active there, huh?” he says to himself as he feels another kick from the newly dubbed Crystal.

“I think she likes her name,” Kravitz suggests with a smile, and returns a hand to Taako's belly.

“I don’t think she can hear us yet, babe,” Taako says, frowning.

“I think we can try telling her something.” 

Taako gave Kravitz a look like he was crazy, but shrugged, “Hi Crystal, I hope you like your name, uh, love you,” he says to his stomach.

Not even a second later, he feels Crystal move, as if responding to what he said.

“Fuckin incredible,” he says, “looks like I gotta talk to you now, huh?” Taako chuckles, feeling another kick after he says that, “Do you wanna tell her something?” He asks Kravitz.

“Sure,” He says and they adjust, so Kravitz can speak to her clearly, “Hello darling, it’s your other dad,” Kravitz pauses, “love you and I can’t wait for you to be born.” He says.

Crystal responds just as fast as she did when Taako talked to her, with kicking and a bit of moving.

Kravitz smiles and kisses Taako on the lips again.

“Hold on, I’m gonna look up something, hand me my stone?” Taako asks, after going back to their positions when discovering Crystal can hear them when talking.

Kravitz hands Taako his stone, “what’re you gonna look up?” 

“Stuff,” Taako says, going to fantasy google.

“Why does my baby kick me whenever I talk? Taako, I told you she can hear us.” Kravitz laughed.

“I just wanted to make sure, and yeah, it says she’s listening and that it will strengthen our bond once she’s born cuz she’ll recognize my voice,” he reads, “huh, cool,”

Kravitz nods in agreement, “I suppose we should probably talk to her during these next few months.”

“Yep,” Taako sighs, “Lup’ll laugh at me for this if I do it around her.” 

“No she won’t, she’ll probably want to talk to her too,” Kravitz reassures.

“Probably everyone will when they find out,” Taako sighs, “that’s uh, gonna be a pain,” 

“Everyone talking to Crystal?” Kravitz asks.

“Yeah, it means she’s gonna murder my insides,” he complains, “maybe I’ll stop talking when it starts to hurt.” 

“Don’t stop talking, I’ll miss your voice,” Kravitz pouts.

Taako rolls his eyes, “Yeah, I know, but whenever I talk, Crystal here is just gonna punch my fucking insides to death,” he says, motioning to his slightly shifting belly as his unborn daughter responds to his voice.

Kravitz nods, “she will, but that means she loves you and she’ll recognize your voice once she’s born.” 

Taako sighs, “Yeah, she’ll recognize yours too. I'm not gonna let everyone talk to her though.”

"Do what you wish, my dear." Kravitz smiles.

"I will, and that means I'm not letting Merle touch my fuckin stomach. That old man is too godsdamned plant horny for me to want him talking to Crystal," he scoffs.

Kravitz laughs at that and steals a kiss from the elf.

"Love you, Krav," Taako says and smiles at his husband when they part.

"Love you too, dove," Kravitz says with practiced ease and returns his husband’s smile.

And with one final kick from Crystal, Taako relaxes into the reaper’s arms and begins to purr again. This surprisingly doesn’t make her move, in fact, it does the opposite. It seems to calm her. This will be something he will remember later on when she's born, maybe it'll calm her then as well.


	6. Month 7: Baby Shower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> baby shower yay! taako gets some rad baby gifts, crystal gets blessed by two goddesses and isnt even born yet.
> 
> elena doesnt belong to me! she belongs to my friend carson! she let me borrow her for this chapter!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow sorry for not updating for a while! i had gotten ideas for the birth chapter and started writing that instead of finishing this chapter, and then i went on a mission trip and wasnt able to write for a week! i was just finally able to get back into the swing of it! its kind of a long one too!
> 
> again thanks to superficialalexis for being amazing and editing this!

“Taako, you look fucking amazing,” Lup says with a huge smile on her face as her brother comes down the stairs after finishing getting ready, wearing one of the dresses they bought when the two of them went shopping together a couple months ago.

“I feel like a balloon, my feet are swollen, I'm not sleeping very well, I feel like shit. I'm ready for this pregnancy thing to be over.” Taako complains and puts his head on his sister's shoulder.

“Aw, Koko,” Lup pats his head sympathetically, “you only got two months left, not much longer.” She leads him to the family room which is decorated with pastel pink decorations for the baby shower that was being held.

“Yeah, thank fuck,” her pregnant brother lets out a sigh, taking his head off of her shoulder, “where's Kravitz?” he asks, sitting down heavily onto the couch.

“Bird Mom had to talk to him about something, said he won't be gone long,” she says, and sits next to him, “Barry’s grabbing Cap’n’port, so they should be back at any time.”

“Rad, can't wait to get some fuckin’ baby loot,” Taako says, smiling, “did you guys get me anything?” he asks.

“Hell yeah,” Lup replies, and she gets up, returning a minute later with a gift bag, “open it, bro.”

“Shouldn’t we wait for everyone else to get here?” he asks, mildly concerned.

“We don't gotta?” she says, shrugging, “fuck that shit, honestly,” she shoves the gift bag closer.

Taako grins and laughs, opening the bag, and he takes out a cute pink onesie with a skull on it, plus a few more assorted outfits with tiny skulls or bones on them.

“Haha, funny.” Taako deadpans, “but holy fuck, these are adorable!” 

“We saw them in the fantasy department store and were like ‘these would be good gifts’,” Lup says with a grin.

“They're amazing!” Taako laughs, “holy shit, baby socks,” he gasps and coos at them, “they're so fucking tiny I fucking love it!”

A rift then suddenly opens and Barry and Davenport step out, the latter holding a small box wrapped in confetti looking wrapping paper.

“Hi Taako, congratulations,” he says and hands him the box, “hello Lup,” he smiles.

“Hi Cap'n'port, Thank you! Look at these baby socks!” He grins at his friend and holds up the small socks to show him.

“Ah, yes, those are very tiny,” he says with a smile, “adorable.”

“I know right?” Taako says happily, “Do you want me to open it now or wait for everyone else to come?” He asks his old captain.

“It doesn’t matter to me. you may do what you like, it’s your party after all.” 

Taako takes that as an ‘open it now’ and rips off the wrapping paper to open the box. Inside is a little captain’s hat and mobile with a replica of the Starblaster rotating around the twelve planes.

“Holy shit, Dav you didn’t have to,” Taako gasps at the mini starblaster twirling gently on the string that was holding it up. 

“I had it commisioned, I thought it would've been a nice gift,” he says, rubbing the back of his neck nervously, “also, a mini captain’s hat, just for fun.” 

“Aw, that's cute,” Taako smiles, giving Lup an annoyed look when she places it on his stomach, “thank you, these are nice gifts,” he says, taking the hat off his belly.

“You’re welcome,” Davenport smiles.

He puts the hat and mobile back into the box it came in, placing it down on the ground next to the bag with Lup and Barry’s gift. Though it was a little hard with his big stomach. 

“I got it, Koko, where do you want me to put ‘em?” Lup asks after taking the gift from him after she saw him having a bit of trouble leaning down.

“Just on the ground or on the table Krav put up earlier, I don't care where,” he says with a sigh.

“Hey, I'm just trying to help you,” Lup replies, raising her hands in mock surrender before getting up to put the opened gifts onto the table.

“I know,” Taako whines, “it just fucking sucks when you can’t bend over, especially when you fucking drop something and can't pick that fucking thing up,” He complains.

She smiles sympathetically and sits back down next to him, wrapping him in a hug from around the waist and putting her head on his large stomach, “Must suck very much,” she says, looking up at him.

Taako rolls his eyes at his sister taking an opportunity to put a hand or her head on his stomach when comforting him, but doesn’t make a move to get her off of him.

“Need me to get you three anything?” Barry asks.

“I’m good for now, thank you, Barry,” Davenport says with a smile.

“Water would be fuckin’ great,” Taako replies.

He nods, and heads into the kitchen to get his brother-in-law a glass of water.He soon returns and hands the glass to the elf. 

Once he hands the glass to him, the doorbell rings.

“Can you get it, please?” Taako asks Barry, “I would, but I have a Lup on me,” he says and motions to his sister, who laughs.

Barry nods with a smile, leaving the room to answer the door. He returns with Lucretia who has a neatly wrapped gift in her hands.

“Hello everyone, congratulations Taako,” she says, handing him the gift.

“Sup, Creesh,” Lup says, from her position, earning herself a kick from Crystal.

“I’m gonna open it now, if you don’t mind,” The pregnant elf says, not so carefully unwrapping the carefully wrapped gift.

Lucretia smiles and says nothing until he opens the box that was wrapped so nicely, revealing a purple hard-covered journal “I thought it would've been nice for you to have a journal of your own to write down your thoughts during the rest of your pregnancy and while Crystal is a baby? You don’t need to use it. If you don’t want it I can take it back,” she says.

Taako is silent for a moment, as if unsure of what to say to his friend. He looks up from the journal to Lucretia, who has a look of unease on her face, “I like it, thank you,” He says with a small smile on his face.

The older woman visibly relaxes, Taako manages to get his sister off of him so he can stand up. 

He walks over to her and embraces her in a hug, the relationship between the two will never be like what it used to be. But they’re trying and getting better.

“There was a small part of me that was saying that you would hate it and that you’d still hate me” Lucretia says shakily in their embrace, “but I knew that was wrong, you don’t hate me anymore,” she says and pulls back from the hug, now with a genuine smile on her face.

Taako smiles back, “I really do like the gift, I swear,” he reassures, “I can’t… I couldn’t hate you anymore, Lucretia,” he says, pulling her into another hug, “it hurt when I did because you’re still like my little sister.” He says genuinely and releases her from the hug.

She nods, “it hurt so much for me too because I thought I’d never get you to trust me again,” she grins wider when he says he still sees her as a sister and goes to sit on the other side of Lup.

Taako puts the journal on the table with the two other gifts and sits back down onto the couch and lets out a sigh.

“Hey, dad!” Angus says from the front room, “sorry I'm a little late, the train was behind on schedule, also Carey and Killian are here!” he says, then their little four-year-old adopted daughter Elena runs into the room. 

“Hi uncle Taako!” the young drow says excitedly.

“Hey, there kiddo,” he says, and he does his best with giving her a hug while seated on the couch.

“Can I touch your tummy?” she asks.

“Did you say please?” Carey asks, coming into the room with Killian behind her, who was holding a decently sized box that was wrapped.

“Please?” she asks.

Taako nods, moving closer to the edge of the couch so Elena can feel. But Crystal didn’t make any movements in response to the little girl putting a hand on his stomach.

“Aw,” she frowns, “I can’t feel anything.”

“She probably fell asleep, you can feel again later okay?” he says to her, seeing the disappointed look on her face.

“Okay!” She smiles and returns to Killian, who scoops her up into her arms.

Angus walks into the room, and places an unwrapped package of diapers into his father’s lap sheepishly, “I didn’t have time to wrap it, sorry.” 

The pregnant elf laughs, “it’s okay Ango, at least you got us something,” he smiles, “Hey Killian? I want to open your gift, but I'm too lazy to actually get up, can you like? Shove it over?” he asks the orc.

“Yeah,” she says and hands Elena over to Carey before gently shoving the gift over.

He unwraps it with a little bit of help from Lup, revealing it to be a stroller, something that he and Kravitz really needed, and in fact, had almost forgotten.

“Oh shit, thanks!” He grins.

“No problem. Didn’t know if you had one or not,” Killian smiles, rubbing the back of her neck sort of awkwardly.

“And we didn’t,” Taako laughs.

Barry pulls out his stone and says, “oh, Magnus needs a portal over. I’ll be back,” he leaves to the other room to portal over so he doesn’t frighten Elena, who probably doesn’t care either way.

“So besides Magnus, who else are we missing?” Carey asks.

“Merle and Ren, but Ren said she was finishing up some grading when I talked to her this morning so she’ll be here soon. Don’t know about Merle,” Taako shrugs, folding his hands over his belly.

“He didn’t say he wasn’t coming, so he’s probably going to be late as usual?” Lup suggests.

“Probably,” Carey says.

Then, the doorbell rings again, and Lup gets up this time to go get it since Barry left to go help Magnus.

“Probably Ren?” Taako asks.

“Or Merle,” Lucretia adds.

“Or both” Angus says.

Ren comes in first, gives Taako a smile, holding a nicely sized package, though not as big as the Fangbattles’ gift. she puts it down in Lup’s former spot, “this is from all of the staff at the school,” she says.

“Oh rad,” he says and opens it. inside there were a few binkies, a couple of baby bottles along with formula. Some toys for Crystal to play with, a few more outfits, and a stuffed bear, “wow, uh impressive, you guys really went all out,” he says impressed.

She nods, “some of the all year kids told me to tell you congrats.” 

“Aw, that’s sweet of them,” Taako smiles, he always did like those kids.

Lup and Merle walked in together, and Merle was holding a gift of his own in his wooden hand. 

“Sorry, I was late, the town meeting was running a little long, couldn't get out of it cause I run the place y’know?” he scratches the back of his neck awkwardly and chuckles.

“No Mavis ‘n Mookie?” Elena asks him, after not seeing her older cousins walk in with him.

“They’re at their mom's today, kiddo, sorry,” he pats the girl on the head.

“Aw, Okay,” She says a little disappointedly.

“Hey, Elena, how about I show you a couple of cool spells?” Angus offers, seeing the look on the young girls face.

This makes her perk up, “Oooh! Yes!” she says excitedly and tries to wiggle out of Carey's grasp. The Dragonborn sets her down and she runs over to Angus.

“Let's go into the other room okay?” He says to her with a smile.

“Okay!” she says happily.

“I’m only gonna show her a couple cantrips,” he says to Carey and Killian, who give him a thumbs up.

The two disappear into the other room, and merle comes over and hands him the package he was holding, “it’s just a couple things the kids picked out,” he shrugs.

Taako opens the package, and inside were a few really fucking pretty seashells, and some actual baby gifts. Which was some sort of sleeping sack for the baby when its cold out - this gets a laugh from Taako- and a few more sets of baby clothes. 

“Thanks my dude,” he says to Merle, who had taken a seat next to Davenport. 

Then, a portal rips open revealing Kravitz, holding a small package, wrapped in a deep black wrapping paper.

“Oh, hello everyone,” he says with a smile.

“Sup,” Carey says.

“What did Bird Mom get you guys?” Lup asks, looking over his shoulder at the package he held in his hand.

“I’m not allowed to say until Taako opens it, and please, stop calling her that,” he says to her.

“Mm, never,” she grins.

Taako stands up and walks over to his husband, wrapping his arms around Kravitz in the best hug he can manage and takes the gift out of his husband's hand and opens it.

Inside is a necklace with two charms on it. The two charms are the symbols of both The Raven Queen and Istus. 

“Holy fuck,” Taako gasps, “is this for the baby?” He asks.

Kravitz nods, “for protection for when she’s older. My Lady and Lady Istus said we can gift it to her whenever we would like to,” he smiles.

“That’s so fucking sweet of them,” Taako says and puts the lid back onto the necklace, “our kid already got the protection of two goddesses and she isn’t even born yet,” he smiles softly and puts a hand on his stomach.

Kravitz nods and smiles, pulling his pregnant husband into an embrace.

“How old does she have to be to give it to her?” He asks.

“Any time we think is right,” he says and Taako nods, putting it onto the pile of gifts that he had gotten today.

Then, another portal rips open next to Kravitz and Magnus steps out and sets down a beautifully carved rocking chair. Before going back through the portal, returning with a carved bed for the baby.

“Sorry, I’m late! I was waiting for the finish to dry on the chair!” He says with a grin, “you look nice Taako!” He says to his friend.

“T-thank you! Is this the projects you were talking about?” He asks with surprise.

“Mhm!” Magnus proudly nods.

“Maggie! Magnus that’s so sweet of you holy shit,” Taako smiles widely and gives the fighter a hug.

“Aw, it’s no problem,” Magnus says, returning the hug gratefully.

“Uncle Magnus!” Elena yells and hugs Magnus's leg.

“Hey, Elena!” He scoops up the little girl after releasing Taako from his hug. 

“Angus was showing me some cool spells!” She tells him, “Uncle Taako says the baby is asleep in his belly,” she shooshes him.

“Oh, that’s cool!” He says in a hushed voice, making Taako giggle, “What’d he show you?” Magnus asks.

“One had really pretty lights!” She says in a hushed voice as well.

“Oooh!” Magnus grins.

Taako sits back down in his pace on the couch, Kravitz moving Ren’s gift to the gift table and sits down next to Taako. The elf feels some movement from within, meaning that Crystal must’ve woken up from the excitement of the outside world. 

“Hey Elena, I think Crystal woke up. You still want to have a feel?” He asks the young girl, whose face lights up in excitement as Magnus lets her down.

She runs over, putting her hand gently onto Taako’s stomach in time to feel Crystal respond with a somersault to his voice.

“Wow!” She says in awe, turning to her mothers who have struck up a conversation with Magnus, “mama! I felt her!” She says grinning widely. Killian giving her daughter a smile and a laugh at her reaction.

Crystal jumps a little at the sudden sound of Elena yelling but quickly settles again.

“She moved again!” Elena grins, and smiles widely up at Taako, “does it hurt?” The curious girl asks, taking her hand off of him.

“No? Not really?” he shrugs, running a hand down his belly, “it just feels kinda funny right now,” he says rubbing a spot where Crystal had recently kicked.

“Does she kick a lot?” 

“Quite a bit, though it’s a mix of her moving around and kicking,” he tells her and leans against Kravitz’s side.

“Okay, I think that’s enough kiddo!” Carey says picking her up, “don’t want to bother him too much do we?” 

“No, ma,” she says wrapping her arms around the Dragonborn's neck.

“She was fine, not bothering me too much,” he shrugs.

“Alrighty,” she says letting Elena down. she runs over to Magnus, instead of returning to him. who had sat down on the ground, and plops herself down into his lap.

The rest of the shower goes well, everyone catches up on what is going on in life. Eventually, Lup brings out the food she had prepared beforehand. Cake, ice cream, etc. 

Carey and Killian leave first, Elena falling asleep after eating her cake and an exciting conversation with Magnus and Angus. 

Everyone else begins to leave slowly once the Fangbattles do, Taako is feeling drained and exhausted and is glad that it's all over. He had fun though, it was nice to catch up.


	7. Month 8: Uncomfortable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> taako is very uncomfortable and bored

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> once again, credit to superficialalexis for editing
> 
> fuuuuuuuuuck i didnt know how to end this chapter so the ending kinda sucks
> 
> one! more! chapter! then crystal is born and this is finished. but there will be a sequel! along with a missing moments fic with stuff i wanted to write in this one but was unable to

Taako is very uncomfortable. He's really only got 5 weeks left of his pregnancy but he is once again in hell. His back hurts, he’s got bad heartburn so it feels like he's gonna spit lava out of his throat, plus the elf has recently started to get false contractions recently. They are basically cramps that hurt and annoy him to no end because he cannot get comfortable anymore when his body decides to betray him even more than it already has. Slightly combined with the varied amounts of activity that Crystal decides to do on a daily basis.

“How’re you feeling, dove?” Kravitz asks, entering the bedroom and sitting down on the edge of the bed.

“Like shit,” Taako responds.

“Need me to do anything for you?” he asks. 

“I want you to kill me.”

“I can’t do that, babe, sorry,” the reaper says, taking one of Taako’s hands.

“This is all of your fault, I'm in hell. I'm suffering because of you,” the elf accuses, sending a glare towards his husband.

“I understand that, yes,” Kravitz says, getting onto the bed to sit next to Taako.

“I can't wait until this little shit is out of me so I don't have to suffer anymore,” he says with a huff.

Kravitz chuckles, planting a small kiss on his husband's cheek, “I don’t like seeing you miserable, is there anything I can do to help make you happier?” he asks.

“Lay here with me?” Taako asks.

“Of course, dove,” Kravitz responds, “would you like to cuddle?”

Taako nods wordlessly, already shifting his position so that he’s lying on his side, with a long pillow resting underneath his large stomach for comfortability. Kravitz wraps his arms around Taako, moving closer so he's pressed close against his husband, placing kisses along the back of his neck and shoulders. 

Taako feels the coolness of his husband's body press up against his back and the equally cold hands wrap around him and rest on his belly. 

“Does this help at all?” Kravitz asks.

“A little bit, but I'm pretty fuckin bored too,” Taako responds, his ear involuntarily flicking when his husband places a kiss along the shell of it.

Kravitz hums, “I can try to do something to entertain you, what would you like to do?”

“I don't fucking know,” he grunts and winces as Crystal delivers a sharp kick to his ribcage.

Kravitz pulls away from him, “are you alright?” he asks in worry.

“I'm fucking fine, she just kicked me hard. Cuddle me more,” he says, annoyed, and lets out a deep breath as a false contraction hits.

“False contraction again?” his husband asks, returning to his original position.

“Yeah,” he lets out another deep breath as it subsides a little.

“Need me to get you anything?” Kravitz asks, loosening his grip in case if he needs anything.

“No, I only want you right now, my dude,” he responds.

His husband chuckles and places more kisses on the back of his neck, “okay, tell me if you need anything.”

“Have I ever told you that she loves hearing your voice? Cause she does,” the elf says with a smile, putting his hand on top of one of Kravitz's.

“Mm, yes I think you have,” Kravitz says with a wide smile.

“Well yeah, she does,” he says, turning his head towards his husband, returning the wide smile on his face, “she moves like a ton when she’s awake and hears you talking, she fuckin loves you already,” he says.

The reaper hums and kisses Taako’s cheek, “I'm sure she loves you too, babe, she hears you every day.” 

“Fucking sappy, my man,” he says with a smile. which soon fades as another false contraction starts up, and of course along with that his back starts to ache, “fuck,” he mutters and begins to sit up because laying on his side was becoming too damn uncomfortable.

“Are you alright?” Kravitz asks, letting go of his husband so he can sit up.

“I'm fine,” he glares, “my back was starting to hurt, I swear to fuck I can't get comfortable anymore.” he mutters that last part to himself as he is once again sitting up.

“Okay,” Kravitz says, putting a hand onto Taako’s stomach, “I'm just making sure.” 

“I know,” he groans and runs a hand down his face, “just chill okay? Can you fix the pillows under my feet? They got messed up a little.” he asks.

Kravitz nods and fixes the pillows before returning to his position next to Taako, “need anything else?” 

“Well I'm still fucking bored so there's that,” he says with a shrug and runs a hand down his belly with a long sigh.

“Hmm, we can watch a movie?” Kravitz asks.

“Don't feel like watching a movie,” he responds, he's been watching fantasy tv and movies all week on fantasy Netflix.

“What about a game? Board game?” he asks again.

“Mm not really? I’m so bored I don’t even want to do anything— this is depressing,” Taako whines.

“Okay, well, we can have someone come over and hang out for a while? Maybe you won't be as bored..” The reaper suggests.

“That’d be fucking rad as hell,” The elf grins, “I can call up Lup and she can come over and entertain me,” 

“Am I not entertaining you enough?” Kravitz fake pouts.

“Babe,” Taako laughs, “I love you, you’re doing so much for me already,” he smiles, reaching up to put a hand on the reaper’s face, “putting up with my shit.”

“I have, yes,” he smiles and kisses Taako’s palm, “Love you too,” he says with a lovestruck grin. 

Taako feels some movements and kicks from Crystal and smiles a little, “aw,” he coos, rubbing his belly, “I think she's trying to say that she loves us too,” the elf says, his smile growing.

Kravitz returns his husband’s smile and gives him a kiss, putting a hand on top of one of Taako’s, “we love you too, Crystal,” he says to his unborn daughter. 

She responds by kicking rather sharply, making Taako wince, “ouch, okay, that one hurt.” 

“Sorry dove,” Kravitz says sheepishly, kissing the elf’s forehead softly.

“It's fine,” The pregnant elf says and picks up his stone on the nightstand next to him. He calls up his twin, hoping that she isn’t busy.

“What’s up, Ko?” Lup’s voice comes from the other side, “anything wrong?”

“I’m just insanely bored, I don’t think I’ve ever been this bored in my entire fucking life,” he says to her.

“Can’t you like, Cook or anything if you're that bored?” She asks.

“I’m on bedrest and I guess I can, but it’s too much work to get out of bed with how huge I am.” he responds.

“Oh true, but did you at least try?” she says.

“I sure fucking did when I first was restricted to my bed for the rest of my life,” he responds with a laugh, “my stomach got in the way, and my back started to hurt when I stood for that long.” 

“That fuckin sucks,” Lup says.

“It really fucking does, can you come over or are you busy?” he asks her.

“Nah, I'm good for now, but don't you have Skeletor to keep you company?”

“Yeah, he suggested that maybe having someone come over will help me not be as bored though,” he says.

“Alright, rad, I’ll just tell Barry that I'm coming over and I’ll be there real quick,”

“Kay, love you.” 

“Gross, love you too though,” she laughs, hangs up and appears through a portal at the entrance to the room, “Sup Ko! Whats with all these pillows?” she asks.

“Elevation helps keep the blood flowing and the swelling in my feet down,” he responds.

“Ah,” she says, shooing Kravitz away so she can sit next to her brother, “you look like shit.”

The pregnant elf rolls his eyes at his twin, “gee, fucking thanks,” he says sarcastically.

“You’re welcome,” she responds with a shit-eating grin.

“Why did I invite you here if you're just gonna treat me like this?”

“Cause you love me?” she suggests.

Taako thinks for a moment. “Debatable.”

“Rude,” she scoffs in mock offense but wraps her brother into a hug anyway. “How's the kiddo doing?” Lup asks, laying down next to Taako after releasing him from the hug.

“She's doing good, as far as I can tell.” he sighs and rubs his stomach as Crystal decides to start using his bladder as a punching bag, “stop punching my bladder for fuck's sake,” he groans.

“Need help?” Lup asks as she watches her brother struggle to get out of bed.

“That would be very much appreciated,” he watches her get off the bed to come to help him up. “Thanks,” Taako says and then makes his way to the bathroom.

He returns a few moments later with an annoyed groan. “You good?” Lup asks.

“Until she starts punching me there again, yeah,” he says and looks at her plainly, “don't get pregnant Lulu, it’s hell.”

“Wasn’t planning on it.” She says and helps him get situated back in bed. “for now anyway,” Lup shrugs.

“Don’t,” he says, seriously this time.

“You can't tell me what to do,” she retorts.

“Fine, go home and fuck your jean man and have a jaby,” 

“Gods, not the fucking jaby thing again,” Lup groans.

“What about a jaby?” Kravitz asks, sticking his head into the room with a confused look on his face, looking at Lup.

“Nothing!” she groans again as her brother laughs beside her.

Kravitz smiles and comes into the room. taking his place next to his husband again and kissing his forehead gently, “looks like you’re feeling better.”

“You fuckin wish, I'm still feeling pretty shitty my man.” Taako takes one of Kravitz's hands.

“But I came over and brightened your day, right?” Lup asks.

“That's still debatable,” he grins at his twin who scoffs.

“Why did I come here if you’re gonna be like this?” 

“Cause I invited you?” 

“Doesn't mean I had to come over,” Lup retorts.

Kravitz rolls his eyes at the two’s shenanigans, he knows better than to intervene when they get like that. 

“That's true, but I would still be bored out of my goddamn mind if I didn't,” he smiles at her.

“Aw, you care about me,” Lup smiles back.

“Of course I fuckin do, you're my sister.” he takes her hand with his other one and squeezes it gently. 

She sits down on the edge of the bed wordlessly and squeezes his hand back in return.

“You made my day less boring today,” Taako shrugs, “so there's that.”

Lup laughs, “I'm glad I was such a help,” she pulls up the chair in the corner of the room and sits in it.


	8. Birth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako gives birth, kravitz panics, lups a good sister and crystal is cute.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING! THIS CHAPTER HAS VERY BRIEF DEPICTIONS OF BIRTH, BUT JUST IN CASE I AM BOLDING THAT PART. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SKIP THAT PART YOU MAY.
> 
> Anyways!!!! It’s done!!!! This is the first fic I’ve finished and I’m so proud of myself for doing so! This fic was so much fun to write and I can’t wait for the sequel because I have a lot of things planned for it, and to actually write crystal! I hope you guys enjoyed this fic, all of you’re comments were amazing <3

Taako is in pain. His water had broken hours ago, everything hurts like hell, and he wants to die. Kravitz isn’t helping very much either— he’s pacing in the corner of the hospital room. But Lup is here and she’s actually comforting him like a good sister. 

 

“Kravitz!” Lup yells at the panicky reaper.

 

“Y-yes?” 

 

“Get your fucking ass over here and comfort your god damn husband, or I will blast your ass into the next plane,” Lup tells him threateningly. 

 

Taako winces as another contraction hits, “sure would be great if the person who did this to me was by my side as I suffer,” he says dramatically, making sure to whimper after.

 

“S-sorry… this is uh, the opposite of my job.” he chuckles awkwardly and takes Taako’s hand.

 

“Yeah? It’s your fucking fault for doing this to me!” Taako says, angrily.

 

“It’s also the opposite of my job too, but you don’t see me complaining!” Lup adds.

 

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” Kravitz raises his hands in surrender, “I’m nervous,” 

 

“you're nervous!?" Taako yells, "Suck it the fuck up, you're not the one giving birth! Aah!” Taako winces, a hand flying to his stomach as a particularly painful contraction hits, making him double over in pain.

 

Before Kravitz could apologize again, a portal rips open and Magnus stumbles out, followed by Lucretia, Davenport, Merle, and Barry.

 

“Taako, are you okay? Did we miss anything?” Magnus asks, rushing over to his friend's bedside.

 

“You have missed hours of me suffering,” Taako says plainly and then visibly winces as another contraction hits him.

 

“Sorry we took so long,” Barry says, coming over to stand beside Lup.

 

“How’re you holding up, Taako?” Davenport asks, reaching up to put a hand on Taako’s forearm.

 

“I’m dying, I’m gonna die,” the pregnant elf complains, “this kid is going to kill me, this is how I’ll go out,” he says dramatically.

 

“Not if I can help it,” Kravitz says determinedly, giving his husband a kiss.

 

Taako winces again, “fuck, it hurts,” he mutters in pain.

 

“I know, I know. I’m sorry.”

 

“All your fault, you did this to me,” Taako says, looking at him with an angry look before dissolving into pain again.

 

“Yes, I did,” the reaper puts his forehead against Taako’s sweaty one, “all my fault.”

 

“Stay strong Taaks!” Magnus says encouragingly. 

 

Magnus’s encouragement goes ignored as Taako yells out in pain again.

 

“I believe in you Taako,” Lucretia smiles, coming over to his bedside, patting his leg in comfort.

 

“Yeah, you’re gonna do really good,” Merle adds, coming closer to him as well.

 

A nurse walks into the room, “Okay Taak-oh,” She says with surprise when there are more people than she expected to see in the room, “did all of you check in?” She asks.

 

No one says anything for a moment, the only sound in the room is the sound of the baby’s heartbeat, detected by the monitor that was put onto Taako when he had arrived.

 

The nurse puts her head into her hands and sighs, “look, I’m just gonna check if he’s ready, then you can go check in,” she says, clearly annoyed.

 

The nurse checks Taako quickly, “Oh, yep, looks like you’re really close. Now, only family will be able to stay when he’s actually giving birth,” she says and sighs again when nobody moves, “Immediate family then, I’ll go grab the doctor, then we can get started okay?” she tells the group and leaves the room.

 

“Good luck taako!” Magnus says giving his friend a thumbs up and walks out of the room.

 

“Kick ass,” Lucretia smiles, following Magnus.

 

Davenport gives his forearm another reassuring squeeze before taking Merle and following Magnus and Lucretia out of the room.

 

“Do you want me to stay?” Barry asks.

 

Taako shakes his head no, “Okay, good luck,” he says and gives Lup a quick kiss before leaving the room to join the others.

 

Soon after Barry leaves, the doctor comes in, “Okay Taako! I’m gonna be your doctor today! As soon as we set up, we will get started.”

 

**Once they finish setting up and getting him into the correct position to give birth, they tell him when to push.**

 

**It's mostly a blur for Taako. The pain is very intense, it feels worse than the endless suffering of Wonderland. He doesn’t remember when he started to purr in distress, but he’s in so much pain that he barely noticed.**

 

**Lup and Kravitz are holding his hands, and he’s grateful for that because they’re both whispering reassurances to him as he pushes.**

 

**“You’re doing so, so good Koko,” Lup says.**

 

**“Almost there, dove. She’s almost here, you’re doing really good. I love you so much,” Kravitz says, placing a kiss on his sweaty forehead.**

 

**He can feel the pain intensify as she gets closer and closer to being born.**

 

**“Almost there Taako! I can see her head, just one more push!” The doctor says.**

 

**He pushes with all of his strength, gripping his sister’s and husband’s hands as hard as he can and yelling out in pain as the baby comes out of him.**

 

**Crystal lets out a very loud cry, and Taako flops back against his bed, panting and sweaty. He's done it.**

 

She is very quickly deposited into his arms and he doesn’t know what to do or how to feel— he is just completely overwhelmed. 

 

He feels the tears come to his eyes as he stares down at the small child in his arms. She looks so much like him.

 

“She’s beautiful,” Kravitz says softly, wiping his husband's tears away.

 

Taako nods wordlessly, as he’s exhausted and sore. He probably looks like total shit too, but that doesn’t matter right now. His baby is here.

 

He smiles widely when she opens her eyes for the first time, because they’re a brilliant gold like his own. Her ears, gods, they’re huge and floppy. 

 

“Hi, baby,” he says softly to her, “you’re so cute,” he smiles.

 

“Hello Crystal, welcome to the world,” Kravitz says, smiling as well when she cranes her tiny head to look at the source of the voice, cooing softly at him.

 

“Congrats guys, she's so cute,” Lup grins widely, “Do you want me to get the chucklefucks or wait for a little?” she asks.

 

“Honestly? Don’t really want any visitors,” he sighs, holding Crystal closer to his chest.

 

“Okay, you’re in charge, you can declare whether if you want visitors or not. All up to you,” Lup says, pulling up a chair to sit.

 

Kravitz sits on the edge of the hospital bed, and kisses Taako’s forehead, “ I’m proud of you, dove.” 

 

Taako grins widely, scooting over so Kravitz can at least sit on the bed with him, “sit, hold your child for a little.”

 

The reaper sits fully onto the bed, and he gets comfortable before Taako gently places Crystal into his waiting arms and leans on his shoulder.

 

Crystal had fallen asleep in Taako’s arms, and she miraculously didn't wake up when placed into Kravitz’s arms. She only yawned and gently pressed her face into his chest. 

 

Lup takes her stone from out of her pocket, “Ah, shoot, Barry just texted me about the others still wanting to meet her. Still no right?” she asks Taako.

 

“Still no,” he confirms tiredly, yawning against the reaper’s shoulder, “M’not really up for it, too much of an effort to interact with people.”

 

“Understandable, you just shat out an entire person. You need your rest,” she says, kissing the top of his head and leaving the room so she can go tell the others in the change of plans.

 

“How’re you feeling?” Kravitz asks softly.

 

“Sore, tired, happy, a lot of things,” he responds just as quietly.

 

“You can sleep if you want.”

 

“I wanna hold her again first,” the elf whines, reaching out to take his minutes old daughter from his husband's arms.

 

“No, you need rest, dove,” Kravitz says smoothly,pushing Taako’s hand down.

 

Taako mutters something in incomprehensible in annoyance, reaching up and taking one of Crystal's small hands into his. She coos softly and yawns, flexing her hand open and taking one of Taako’s fingers into a light grasp.

 

The elf smiles and chuckles tiredly, “Oh no, she has my finger. I'm trapped,” he says, ears flicking up a little. 

 

“Oh no,” Kravitz laughs softly, “she’s got you.” 

 

Taako hums and presses deeper into the reaper’s side, gently extracting his finger from the baby’s grasp.

 

Not long later, Taako finally fell asleep and Lup returned with only Barry following her.

 

“Hey, I'm back,” she says softly, “Magnus was disappointed, though. Had to remind him that Taako decides if he wants visitors or not.”

 

Kravitz nods, “would you like to hold her now?” he offers.

 

“Oh hella!” she holds out her arms and Kravitz situates her into them, “aw, hello!” she says to her when Crystal opens her eyes to see whose arms she’s been deposited into. She only lets out a yawn before falling back asleep.

 

“She’s adorable,” Barry smiles, “congratulations.”

 

The reaper feels Taako shift against him and wraps an arm around him, “Thank you,” He says with a smile.

 

Lup holds her for a couple minutes before handing her off to Barry, who gently takes her into his arms. 

 

“Holy fuck, her ears,” he mutters in awe at the newborn's large ears.

 

“Baby elf ears are fucking huge, bear,” Lup laughs.

 

“They’re cute,” He says, handing Crystal back to Kravitz.

 

Taako shifts against him again, mutters something incomprehensible again, and wakes up, “fuck, can’t sleep— too wired,” he says with a yawn.

 

“Well, you tried,” Lup says.

 

“Shut up,” he responds tiredly.

 

“You can always take naps?” Barry suggests.

 

“Yeah, I can. Don't know if I'll be able to actually fucking sleep until we get to go home,” the elf yawns again.

 

“Would you like to hold her again?” Kravitz asks his husband.

 

Taako nods and sits up a bit, taking Crystal in his arms once again.

 

About an hour later, they were sent to the recovery room where they would stay for another day or two. Barry and Lup leave after a little while to give the two some space.

 

One of the nurses left a bottle of baby formula for them when Crystal would need to be fed.

 

“Are you going to try and sleep again?” Kravitz asks.

 

“Probably,” Taako says, looking up at him with an exhausted look on his face, but he had a look of happiness on his face as he rocked his daughter gently.

 

Crystal then starts getting a little fussy, tears forming at the corners of her eyes as she begins to cry.

 

“I think she’s hungry, hand me the bottle?” Taako asks.

 

Kravitz wordlessly hands him the bottle with a nod.

 

Taako gently eases the tip into Crystal’s mouth and smiles when she begins to suckle on the bottle, “there you go cutie, it feels better to have food in you doesn't it?” he says to her.

 

Crystal responds with small coos, staring up at him with her beautiful golden eyes as she drinks the formula. 

 

Kravitz stares at him lovingly while he feeds their newborn daughter, “what?” Taako laughs tiredly.

 

“I love both of you so much,” he says laughing softly, placing kisses on both of their foreheads.

 

“Don't need to get sappy on me right now my man,” Taako says, rocking slightly as Crystal continues to eat. 

 

“I just can't help it.” 

 

The elf smiles widely, “we haven't even had her a full day yet and you're already going soft, love it.” he teases.

 

Kravitz blushes but doesn't deny it. 

 

Once Crystal finishes the bottle, a nurse comes in and instructs them both on how to properly burp a baby. Taako does what he's instructed to do and pats her back gently until she lets out a small burp. 

 

The rest of the hospital stay, Taako takes on and off naps as the hospital staff comes and checks up on them as well during this time. After two days, the new family is able to leave. Taako is just glad that he's able to sleep on his stomach again after those long months of not being able to. 

 

This is when they start a new life as fathers, unaware of what messes their child will get into later on in life and how it will all play out. 

 

But for now, Crystal’s life has just begun.

  
  



End file.
